The DaVinci Code by Dan
Brown has not only been a best seller, but it has also spawned a number
of debunking books. Most of these books have exposed factual errors in
Brown's book, but since the The
DaVinci Code is a novel and only claims to be based on fact,
these errors tend to be brushed aside. Criticism is also blunted
because of the corruption that permeates organized religion and the
increasing popularity of new-age beliefs, post-modernism, and
relativism. What makes this book unique and especially useful is that
it attacks all of these problems and approaches.

Ben Witherington III is a professor of New Testament at Asbury
Theological Seminary. His Ph.D. is in the areas of study that this book
is about, and he has written numerous books on this subject. This book
begins by showing us that what is in The
DaVinci Code is not a new idea. Books like Holy Blood, Holy Grail in 1982 had
the same ideas. Witherington then briefly explores seven major errors
found in The DaVinci Code:

Error 1. The canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are
not the earliest Gospels. Brown proposes that Gnostic Gospels are
earlier. This is totally disproven by Witherington with several
chapters dealing with Gnosticism.

Error 2. Jesus is a great man or prophet in the earliest historical
sources, but was later proclaimed divine at the Counsel of Nicacea.

Error 3. Emperor Constantine suppressed the "earlier" Gnostic
Gospels and imposed the canonical Gospels and the doctrine of the
divinity of Christ on the Church.

Error 4. Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.

Error 5. Jesus must have been married since He was an early Jew.

Error 6. The Dead Sea Scrolls, along with the Nag Hammadi documents,
are the earliest Christian records.

The seventh error is not a factual one, but Witherington shows
clearly that Brown does not understand Christianity or God. This book
explores all of these errors and gives us a vivid description of
Gnosticism and canonicity.

Much of this book is about how we got the Bible and how canonicity
works. Because the book is debunking Brown, it tends to focus on
certain scholars and their errors. Marcus Borg, for example, gets a
whole chapter including a rather strange personal miracle used to
criticize Borg. There is a glossary, an index, and a Scripture index.

We recommend this book as a useful tool in handling biblical
minimalists. It defends the Bible well and, in the process, does a good
job of hitting at the assumptions and faulty understandings of The DaVinci Code.